


Five Things Cassie Accomplished When She Didn't Die

by zarabithia



Category: Avengers (Comic), Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: Community: rarewomen, Female Friendship, Gen, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-30
Updated: 2012-04-30
Packaged: 2017-11-04 14:24:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/394845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Children's Crusade ended differently and Cassie's legacy continues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Things Cassie Accomplished When She Didn't Die

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fatefuls](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=fatefuls).



_One_

She beat Kate and Tommy at cards. 

It didn't sound like it was all that impressive, really. The Young Avengers had played approximately seven hundred games of cards throughout their time together. Cassie had even won some of them, because Kate might be cultured and educated well beyond what Cassie had and Tommy might be a cheat, but Cassie had sat at the table of epic poker battles between the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. 

She learned how to play from the woman who taught Johnny Storm how to play and she learned how to cheat from the _first_ Hawkeye. 

So normally, it would not be an accomplishment. It'd be as easy as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

But on the day she beat them, several things were different about their card game. Not only were they playing just days after Cassie's near death experience at the hands of Doom, but the tiny hospital table was obviously not built to withstand the occasional enthusiastic thumping from an archer or a speedster. 

Also, it was hard to concentrate on a game when her father kept giving her suspiciously wet eyes from the corner of the room. Which was an activity that he continued, no matter how many times Cassie reassured him that she was okay.

Plus, Tommy and Kate had totally made the rules up for the game five minutes before it started. Which made the whole winning thing a bit of a challenge.

Cassie still _did_ , though. 

_Two_

She finally told her mother how she felt, without raising her voice.

To be fair, it was difficult to raise her voice, because Doom's antics had crushed most of her ribs and the oxygen needed for yelling really wasn't at Cassie's disposal. 

Also, she had three lawyers, a house full of Avengers, young and old, and one social worker present and it really seemed like the time to be a grown-up. 

"You can fight this," she told her mother quietly. "And you can keep battling for the right to keep me in your house instead of where I want to be. Or you can do what you did when you and Dad got divorced, or when Dad was in prison, or when I was dying of a heart problem. You could just go on with your life and let me have mine."

Her father's hand was light on her shoulder, and Sam Wilson's hand was firm on her other shoulder, and Cassie leaned back in the chair, content with the knowledge that they both meant the same thing. 

"She's almost sixteen years old," Sam informed her mother, "and there isn't a court in the city who won't take her wishes into consideration." 

"Or the fact that we have you on camera smacking her in my lobby," Uncle Tony reminded, helpfully, from the other room, and Cassie heard the sharp intake of her father's breath, so she reached up and squeezed his hand, much as it still hurt to move her arms.

Her mother's gaze fell to Cassie's hand resting on her father's and Cassie was never so grateful that Blake hadn't come with them. 

"This is what you want?" her mother said finally. "To stay here, with the people who nearly caused your death?" 

"To stay here, with the people who gave her the strength to fight against Doom," Kate interrupted, and Cassie's mother glared at Kate as though a glare could ever dissuade Kate Bishop.

"If it matters to you at all, yes, this is where I want to stay," Cassie answered. 

"Why?" Her mother demanded.

"Because, when I thought I was dying, I knew that everyone of the people in this room would be proud of what I had done and the life I'd lived. Everyone but you," Cassie answered.

Cassie told herself that her mom knew she couldn't hug in her current state, and that made the way her mom walked out without saying a proper goodbye hurt a little less.

_Three_

She helped in the moving process. 

Sure, it wasn't a lot of help, but they didn't move from the temporary living arrangements provided by Uncle Hank until after she was able to at least move her own things. 

"Everyone knows you're stubborn," Kate surmised as she took one of the larger boxes. 

"Here, Katie, let me get that," Cassie's father offered, and only because Cassie loved him did she not laugh at him for the offer.

"I'm an archer, Mr. Lang. My upper body strength is superior to most," Kate said, as politely as Cassie had ever heard her say before. "Besides, this is a present I bought for Cassie. A little home-coming gift, mingled with a little 'thank you for not dying' present." 

Cassie rolled her eyes over the small box that she was given. "You're going to get him weepy again and I will be forced to kick your butt." 

"In your dreams, Ant-Girl." 

"Ant-Girl?" Her father chuckled. "I kind of like it." 

"Yeah, you and _Hawkingbird_ think it's a real riot."

"Keep it up, Lang, and you won't get your present," Kate threatened.

And, as it turned out, that would have been a real shame. Because the present that Kate gave her was an ant farm. One that took up the entirety of one whole side of Cassie's bedroom, no less.

"You have some pretty great friends," her father informed Cassie, and Cassie had no desire to argue with him.

_Four_

She told her father about what had happened to Aunt Jan while he'd been gone.

She hadn't meant to. She was sure that Uncle Hank or Uncle Tony or Aunt Pepper would do it. Or maybe even Aunt Sue or Captain America. 

But Cassie was sitting on the couch, texting Teddy to see if Billy was still crying out of his bedroom window about the way things had gone in Latveria, when her father suddenly made a comment about Aunt Jan.

It had been several years since her heart had physically _ached_ that badly - not even Doom had managed - because it occurred to her that her father didn't _know_ and that she was going to have to tell him.

She didn't want to. That was Avengers business and the Avengers _should have taken care of it_. 

But they hadn't, and what was she supposed to do? Send her father off to Uncle Hank and make _him_ tell the story? 

For a moment, she was tempted. She was tempted to say that it _was_ Avengers business, and they damn well could take care of it like they already should have.

But she remembered sitting in a lab with Uncle Hank, and she remembered the way he'd look at Aunt Jan, and she remembered sitting at their table and the way his crooked smile would match every silvery laugh she ever had. 

She couldn't do that to him. 

Instead, she put her phone away and asked her father to come sit next to her. 

It was easier to grieve when someone else was doing the holding, but Cassie'd had plenty of good teachers on that front and she held her father as his tears fell.

_Five_

She remembered that, in better days, it had been _Aunt_ Wanda.

Cassie had been blessed with many wonderful aunts. First there had been her Aunt Ruth, who had taken care of her while her father had been in prison. 

Then there'd been Aunt Pepper, who had sat on the floor and helped her build a fortress out of legos outside of Uncle Tony's office. There had also been Aunt Sue, who had taught her how to play poker like nobody else and had also had the dubious honor of giving Cassie The Talk that her father so desperately wanted to avoid. Of course, nobody would ever replace Aunt Jan, who had made so many promises about going shopping for prom dresses. 

But there'd also been Aunt Wanda, who had sat with her legs tucked under her in the Mansion next to Cassie. Together, they had carefully picked the right shade of crayon to give life to fictional words in Cassie's coloring books, while Aunt Wanda told her stories of faraway lands that sounded just as fantastical as the ones in Cassie's books.

A lot had happened since then, and Cassie had held a grudge for a long time.

But after visiting one of those worlds that had once seemed so far away, Cassie welcomed Wanda into the home Cassie shared with her father. They sat in the living room, while Billy, Teddy and Tommy took turns "helping" Cassie's father in the kitchen. 

"They say that war is getting ready to break out, again," Cassie ventured, softly enough that her father couldn't hear. "Between the heroes."

"The X-Men and the Avengers," Wanda acknowledged and the sigh she gave echoed somewhere deep inside of Cassie. 

"You'd think the Avengers would have learned their lesson about all the in-fighting the last time around," Cassie muttered. "I meant the Civil War thing, not ... god, how sad is it that I have to specify which time I meant when talking about the _heroes_ beating each other up instead of villains?" 

"Sometimes, even heroes lose sight of what's important," Wanda answered simply. "That time must have been very difficult for you."

"It was," Cassie admitted. "I wanted nothing more than to live up to what my father would have wanted, and that meant not repeating his mistakes. Not becoming the fugitive he'd once been. He'd told me that over and over before he'd died and I couldn't have broken that promise. And that meant I had to break the one that I made to my friends." 

Cassie glanced down the hallway, into the kitchen and kept her voice low. "I only wanted to do the right thing, but no matter which way I chose, it felt like I was betraying someone I cared about for reasons that were completely out of my control." 

The words tumbled out of her, and Cassie chalked it up to the fact that her friends didn't need to hear all of that when they had their own problems to deal with.

Of course, Wanda had a considerable amount of problems to deal with, too. But that didn't stop her from reaching over and hugging Cassie.

The action took her by surprise, but Cassie had no problem returning the hug that her Aunt Wanda had offered.


End file.
